PRIMARY, 9th Congressional District: Botelho: Allegiance to district, not party

Edward F. Maroney

Friday

Oct 19, 2012 at 2:00 AM

If he goes to Washington to represent the new Massachusetts Ninth Congressional District, Daniel Botelho says, he won’t have to cross the aisle to work with his peers.

If he goes to Washington to represent the new Massachusetts Ninth Congressional District, Daniel Botelho says, he won’t have to cross the aisle to work with his peers.

“I will be in the middle of the aisle,” said the non-party candidate. “Whatever is generated on either side, if it works for my constituency and works for the country,” he’ll support it.

“The other two gentlemen (incumbent Democrat Bill Keating and Republican contender Chris Sheldon) are partisan,” Botelho said in an interview with The Barnstable Patriot. “Their platforms stick to the party lines.”

The Fall River native says he’s “always been ‘unenrolled.’ (I) embody some of the Republican values – I am a fiscal conservative, socially conservative – but I just don’t like the idea of having to surrender my own thoughts to a party.”

Case in point: the Affordable Care Act, which Botelho said “is a horrible piece of legislation… It’s going to leave Middle America out in the cold.” His solution is to combine public and private plans.

“I advocate a two-party payer system,” Botelho said. “The United States government would provide for all American citizens basic, very well-defined health care. You could buy supplemental insurance from a second party if you’re not happy with the basic.” “Basic,” he said, would be defined by the medical profession based on appropriate care for various age groups.

“Yes, give us a national system, but don’t stifle innovation,” Botelho said. “As a father of two, I wouldn’t want to just depend on basic.”

The system is already working in Canada, according to Botelho, who said employers “provide the supplemental insurance free of charge. The cost for individuals on the supplemental side is so much less because all of the basic is covered.”

Botelho isn’t shy about underscoring his plan’s availability just to American citizens. “It could have some implications on illegal immigration,” he said. “You have to take a harder position. Of course, if someone’s life is at risk, here you go. But if you can’t pay the bill, there will be repercussions.”

The candidate said he is a first-generation American, “born here of immigrant parents who came here legally, and really worked hard to make a life for themselves in chasing that American dream.” The family owned a clothing manufacturing company that at its peak employed about 350 people here and another 300 in the Azores.

“Instead of playing basketball, I was expected to go to work,” Botelho said. “I was lead shipper for my parents’ factory by 15. I’ve been used to having that responsibility, having folks depending on me.”

Admittedly a “little bit of a gearhead,” Botelho said “life got interesting” after graduation from Bishop Connolly High School. He fell in love with his high school sweetheart (“We were a couple for over 15 years”) and was a father at age 20.

Plans for going to school full-time evaporated as Botelho strived to support his family. He attended part-time as he drove a commuter bus between Taunton and Boston in between classes, and also was a substitute teacher.

An early desire to get into the medical field foundered in the chemistry lab, so Botelho switched to computer science and then to finance. Graduating with a degree in finance and a minor in economics from UMass Dartmouth, he went to work for Putnam Investments.

Based on his experience, Botelho rejects the idea that college should be a full-time experience for everyone. “If you can’t afford it, maybe you need to go half-time and work. That way, you have half the tuition load and you’re not taking on as many loans.”

Admissions counselors “need to be exactly that,” he said, to give students three choices of majors “and talk about the bill when you’re done and the possible income you could have when you graduate.”

From Putnam, Botelho moved on to State Street and then to Brown Brothers Harriman, a private custodial bank where he was a senior financial analyst reporting on hedge funds. He’s now with Bank of America as a senior analyst in global financial operations.

With that background, you might expect that Botelho has some firm opinions on the interactions of government and finance.

Regulations are “absolutely” necessary, the candidate said, but not in the form of “a Chihuahua just barking at it. It needs something with more bite.”

Botelho scoffed at the strength of safeguards in the Dodd-Frank act. Noting J.P. Morgan Chase’s loss of six billion dollars, he said, “If you wanted to be a good corporate shareholder, you could say you don’t believe the executive team deserves compensation of $23 million. Dodd-Frank says that shareholders can vote on that but it’s non-binding. What good is that?”

When the housing bubble burst, Botelho said, Congress “never came to the rescue of the normal person who they threw under the bus. They came to the rescue of the banks. [They could have told the banks] to bring those rates down, to put the money into fixed loans that people could afford, but they gave it to the banks to shore up their balance sheets.”

Among Botelho’s issues are tax code reform, more accountability from the scientists who regulate (not well, he believes) the fishing industry, Cape Wind (he says it’s not cost-effective and is in the wrong location), and wastewater (“The solution needs to come on a local-based means, but I realize that the cost is gonna be so great that state and federal funds most likely need to be used.”). If elected, he’ll hold monthly town meetings in the district’s communities.

“Just because you’re a Democrat or a Republican doesn’t mean that you’re entitled to any section of the population’s vote,” Botelho said. “if folks want someone that physically knows what it’s like living in their shoes, they really need to consider sending me to Washington, D.C. It’s not about the “D” or the “R” or even the “I” (independent), but sharing values, having that tenacity and fire to fight for what is right for our district, that experience that comes from living in the district, not being a transplant.”

INFO BOX Born and raised in Fall River

Graduated with honors from UMass Dartmouth with a concentration in finance and economics

On the issues: go to www.danielbotelhoforcongress.com

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